College Cup: IU men's soccer beats UNC-Greensboro, Final Four bound – IndyStar

Weeks ago, Ryan Wittenbrink prophesied the blueprint for a match like Saturday’s national quarterfinal.
It was in October, following Indiana’s victory over Notre Dame. Externally, it very much still felt like an IU team that was a work in progress. Wittenbrink knows what a good team looks like. He was on the IU squad that lost in the national championship game two seasons ago. So on that day in October, Wittenbrink was asked what he had seen out of this team to give belief they could make a deep run in the postseason.
“We have a lot of those guys that were in that (national championship appearance) run,” he said. “And obviously a lot of talented younger guys. So I think it’s a good mix. We got a lot of talent and also people that have been there.”
Fast forward to Saturday. That was pretty much how it worked out. IU took down UNC-Greensboro 2-0 on the road to advance to a College Cup. It was in part due to Maouloune Goumballe and Samuel Sarver. It was young talent. It was mature experience. Two players at different moments in their careers. Two people with differing personalities. But together they helped send IU one step closer to a ninth national championship. 
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The Hoosiers will head to Cary, N.C. for their 22nd College Cup trip and will face Pittsburgh on Friday night. IU hasn’t given up a goal during this NCAA tournament, which has included three consecutive shutouts. 
“I thought they played really well,” IU coach Todd Yeagley said of his team’s performance Saturday. “I wouldn’t say it was like the complete game of the year, but I thought we were really good in all aspects.”
Goumballe was the first to strike for IU. He settled a throw-in, using his body to box out a defender, turned over his left shoulder and then swung his right leg to the ball. It was an absolute rocket, the ball cutting through the air and into the net for a goal.
16′ | Goumballe on the volley!#IUMS 1, UNCG 0 pic.twitter.com/oiZMj5OkZY
“I was in disbelief,” IU goalkeeper JT Harms said of watching the goal.
It was a rewarding moment for a player that has been in the IU program for four seasons. He has been somewhat of a Swiss army knife, playing a variety of positions and was a part of that national runner-up team that ended in heartbreak.
“When you get there and seeing how close we were to it — it was right at our fingertips and to not win it, it just really puts that fire in your heart to get back there because you know that it’s possible once you do it once,” Goumballe said.
Harms described Goumballe as “just a good kid, quiet, really smart.” Goumballe is a computer science major at IU. He was into technology when he was younger and took a few AP computer science courses in high school. After his soccer career is over, he wants to do something in software engineering. Goumballe credits his parents for instilling respect in him. One time, they were leaving a hotel and he spilled some trash on the floor of their room. 
“Why’d you do that?” his father asked him.
“I was like ‘the housekeepers are going to pick it up, aren’t they? That’s their job,’” Goumballe said.
His father gave him a long talk about how you have to respect everyone because you don’t know what they go through.
“From then on, I just kinda looked at things differently,” Goumballe said. “And I treat everyone with as much respect as I can.”
After Goumballe’s strike Saturday, Sarver doubled IU’s lead in the second half. In the counterattack, Sarver streaked down the field, as defenders tried to chase him down. He knocked it past the goalkeeper to give IU the 2-0 lead. 
“Our coach always tells us to use the right club, so you don’t want to crush the shot,” Sarver said. “It’s like golf. It’s like a putt.”
Sarver has been a young phenom for the Hoosiers. Last season, he earned All-Big Ten Freshman honors. He has again been an important part of IU’s success this season. But unlike Goumballe, Sarver is less reserved.
64′ | Patty steals, Sammy scores!@samsarver_ | #IUMS pic.twitter.com/KH0drPud4N
“He’s quick-witted,” Yeagley said. “… I always say, ‘Sammy sometimes you got to think through what you’re gonna say first.’ He’s very quick to jump into a conversation in a funny way. And sometimes he needs to, as we say, think of the filter for a moment. But he means so well. He has like the biggest heart and he wants everyone to do well. He was one of the (most) selfless strikers I’ve ever coached… He just wants to win and compete. He loves competing.”
Sarver has been ultra-competitive going back to his days as a kid. He puts it this way: “I think I hate losing more than I like winning.”
After IU’s loss to Washington in the NCAA tournament last season, one of the coaches had a short message for Sarver: “Just remember this feeling,” Sarver was told.
Saturday was a great example of what makes this program so special. It was the combination of two players at various points in their careers, seizing the moment in their own way. In retrospect, Saturday’s performance was what Wittenbrink forecasted weeks ago.
“Two guys that really needed goals that were playing well, were Maouloune and Sammy,” Yeagley said. “That’s gonna propel to this next game, even more so.”

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